Watching and participating in sporting events and games is a popular pastime for many people. However, due to time, space and the number of people needed for most such games, it is not always practical to arrange a full-scale game at any particular time. Moreover, due to the skill and physical conditioning required, plus the potential injuries from many such games, individuals are not always prepared to participate in a full-scale game. As a spin-off from full-scale games, recreational game tables such as for table soccer (sometimes called foosball), air hockey or field hockey have become popular. Game tables allow the participants to simulate a full-sized game with fewer people, less space and in a protected environment. Such game tables can, for example, be set up in basements, garages, game rooms, backyards, gyms, party facilities, patios, or otherwise and are often played with two or four people.
There have been various approaches to designing and constructing game tables for table soccer and table hockey. Typical table soccer game tables are designed so that the table users spin or rotate rods to cause the simulated soccer players to move with the rod. Additionally, the table users can push or pull the rods to cause the player pieces to move back and forth across a width of the table. A small spherical ball imitating a soccer ball is used.
In other approaches, air hockey game tables incorporate a perforated game surface and air is pumped through an array of holes defined in the game surface. A disc-shaped hockey puck piece floats or glides over the game surface on an air cushion created by the air jets through the game surface. Hand-held mallets or strikers are used to strike the hockey puck.
Traditionally, soccer game tables and hockey game tables each require a relatively large area of space for the game assembly and surrounding playing space. Moreover, the structure for soccer game tables and air hockey tables is usually mutually exclusive, requiring a table to be dedicated to one or the other. In certain arrangements combination game tables have been created for both hockey and soccer, but have required different playing surfaces, such as a rotating game table with two game surfaces or multi-game tables with stackable modules. These combination game tables have required excess complexity and cost and have suffered from limitations in size and usability.
An improved game table is desired.